House, Senate Strike Deal on $388-Billion Spending Bill

House and Senate negotiators struck a deal late Friday on a massive spending bill, even as the divisive issue of abortion emerged as one of the final topics of debate.

Negotiators worked late into the night before reaching agreement on details of the $388-billion omnibus spending bill that would fund much of the government for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The House and Senate are expected to approve the measure today.

Before an agreement was reached, however, abortion rights supporters objected to a provision that would make it easier for healthcare providers to refuse to provide abortions or abortion referrals.

The abortion-related provision, included in the agreement, is backed by conservative groups, which are trying to exercise the clout they believe they gained with the reelection of President Bush.

But the provision drew criticism Friday from nine female senators -- eight of them Democrats. The measure was included in a spending bill approved earlier this year by the House.

The senators, including California’s Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, sent a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) objecting to the provision. The Republican who signed the letter was Sen. Olympia J. Snowe of Maine.

“Should this provision become law, federal, state or local government may no longer require any institutional or individual healthcare provider to provide, pay for or refer abortion services,” they wrote. “This will mean that medical providers in hospitals and clinics across the country will likely be victims of demonstrations and intimidation as this provision allows that they be forbidden from providing abortion care to women who need it, and also to deny women referrals to another provider.”

NARAL Pro-Choice America, an abortion rights group, also assailed the provision, contending that it would bar physicians at health maintenance organizations, for-profit hospitals and others from even talking to their patients about abortion. The group called the provision a “backdoor gag rule.”

“This move highlights the true agenda of the far right, which controls Congress and the White House: eliminating a woman’s right to choose,” said Elizabeth Cavendish, NARAL Pro-Choice America’s interim president.

Supporters of the provision, led by Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), have argued that it would help shield anti-abortion healthcare providers from what the Christian Coalition called “the bullying of government agencies” if they declined to provide, pay for or refer for abortions.

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the anti-abortion organization National Right to Life, said the measure would “prevent state and local government officials from compelling healthcare providers to participate in killing unborn children.”

The spending bill complied with overall spending limits the president demanded partly by trimming every program by less than 1%. That figure was raised slightly in final talks to give more money for NASA and for other late changes, according to Associated Press.

“Everybody took hits,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla), a chief author of the measure, told Associated Press. “There will be members who aren’t totally satisfied, but we’re committed to stay within the budget number.”